Bicyle Tours

Grown up in a village and never having lived in a place with more than 50000
residents, I really enjoy being one of the 30 Mio inhabitants of the Tokyo Greater
Area.
Despite this sometimes I feel the need to get out of the crowds, the traffic,
the concrete - you get the idea.
For the "small hunger" one can go to one of Tokyo's many green spots,
especially along the rivers. But even better, it takes only 90 minutes by train
to get into Japan's scarcly populated mountains with it's abundance of nature.

Subsequently hiking and bicyling have become my number one hobbies.
Especially since I got myself in August 2002 a racing bicyle, bicylce riding
has clearly taken the lead. For around one year day tours on the weekend have
been enough to still my thirst. By then I actually knew the major bicycle lanes
and mountain roads around Tokyo. I wanted more...
The answer: Longer tours to more distant destinations. Thus multi day tours.
The thing is, on vacation I don't like planning in advance, which while travelling
on the bicycle is anyway way too risky. One never knows where on will be at
the end of the day, thus staying in hotels is not an option.
So camping. But stop, I also have two left hands with ten thumbs, don't like
heavy baggage and hate freezing.
This is where the special nature of Japan comes to the rescue. In summer the
days are normally near 30 degrees centigrade and even the nights don't fall
below 20 degrees. Food can be bought everywhere in the ubiquitous convenience
stores. Accordingly I don't need to carry a tent around. Dropping myself to
the ground besides the street wherever the sun sets on me is fully sufficient.
I actually do my "camping" without having so much as a pocket knife
with me.

By now I have come quite around in Japan. Recently I decided to publish a log
of my tours right here in the internet.
If you are a fellow bicycle rider (or are just plain interested) have a look
and in case of questions or comments, drop me an email
or leave a note on my messageboard.

2003 / June

3 day bicycle tour from Yokohama through the Japanese Alps
to Itoigawa at the Japanese Sea. Distance: 393 km

2003 / August

6 day bicycle tour from Yokohama to Mutsu, the most nothern
railway station on the west coast of the Japanese main island. Distance:
950 km